The Talk After Graduating
by kirios1
Summary: Naruto has a discussion with the Hokage that reveals Naruto's honest opinions of certain classmates. What will be the result? Team 8 Naruto. Naruto/Hinata pairing (for now).
1. The Talk

**Chapter 1 - The Talk**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"Thank you Naruto for protecting Iruka and the Forbidden Scroll," said the Sandaime Hokage to the boy, who still had a wide grin plastered to his face.

"You know I would Jiji, I'm an awesome ninja now," replied Naruto.

The Hokage just chuckled, glad to see that Naruto was happy. "How about I treat you to ramen at Ichiraku's?"

"Really? Yes, yes, yes!" cheered Naruto while thinking of all the ramen he could eat. Seeing this, the Hokage started to dread the hit that his wallet would take after Naruto was done.

"Let me just finish up here for a minute and we can be on our way." After he finished tidying up his nemesis, the never ending stack of papers, he was prepared to leave when Naruto asked a question that would lead to supplying his nemesis with even more strength, more papers.

"Hey Jiji, what team will I be on?" asked Naruto, curious who his teammates would be.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that early Naruto, you will just have to wait patiently for a week and find out along with the rest of your classmates," replied the Hokage.

Naruto frowned at that answer. "That's, okay Jiji, as long as my teammates aren't Sasuke or Sakura I will be happy," replied Naruto, getting his smile back at the end at the thought of finally being away from those two.

The Hokage however went into deep thought after hearing Naruto's reply, as he had in fact placed Naruto with both Sasuke and Sakura. And from all the reports that he received as well as the use of his crystal ball, Naruto still displayed a crush on Sakura and a rivalry with Sasuke. So why is he so against having those two as his teammates? It didn't make sense. "Oh, and why don't you want Sasuke and Sakura as your teammates? From what Iruka has told me, you like to compete against Sasuke and have a crush on Sakura" asked the Hokage, hoping to find out Naruto's true opinion of his soon to be teammates.

"Um, can you keep a secret Jiji?" asked Naruto.

"Of course Naruto, I won't tell your classmates what you think about them, I am just curious why you dislike Sasuke and Sakura," replied the Hokage.

"Well, my 'crush' on Sakura only really lasted about a week. She is really mean and constantly hit me, so I continued to ask her out to get back at her because it annoys her so much. If she ever said 'yes', I would then tell her 'no' and see how she likes it," replied Naruto. "And Sasuke is also mean. He always calls me dobe, so I started to call him teme to annoy and get back at him. There's no way I would want to be on a team with him though, he only cares about himself. In fact, if I ever was in danger of dying on a mission, I'm sure the teme would let me, or at the very least wouldn't care if I did or not. The same is true of Sakura."

The Hokage started to sweat upon hearing this response. He had already set the teams, but it appeared that he didn't understand the mindset behind why Naruto acted the way he did towards his classmates. "I see. Then, who are you hoping to have as teammates?" asked Hokage, wanting to find out who Naruto had a positive opinion of.

"Hmm," thought Naruto. "I'm not really sure Jiji," said Naruto sadly looking down. "I don't really have a friend at the academy. If I had to pick, I would be okay with Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, or Hinata."

Naruto missed the dark look that crossed the Hokage's face when he heard that he didn't have a friend, but he managed to hold in his killing intent so as not scare Naruto. "And what's different about Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata?" asked the Hokage.

"Well, they're never mean to me. Shikamaru just sleeps in class, but the few times we did talk, he's never said anything mean to me or about me. The same is true about Choji, Shino, and Hinata," said Naruto. "Well, I don't think Shino speaks much of anything. Kiba is a bit rude, but his ninken Akamaru is really awesome. Plus, unlike Sasuke, he'd actually protect his teammates," replied Naruto.

The Hokage nodded to Naruto in response, "that's good to know Naruto. Now how about we get to Ichiraku's before they close down for the day? It is getting pretty late."

"You're right Jiji! Come on, let's go. I don't want to miss ramen, plus I want to show Ayame-neechan and Old Man Teuchi that I graduated and am a ninja now" said Naruto with a smile wide across his face.

Internally however, the Hokage was groaning at the new information he received. He was glad that he found out early that the team 7 he put together would not work out and that he had time to rearrange the teams, but he also knew that the paperwork involved would be a nightmare.

As it turned out, he was also right about his wallet taking a hit with Naruto consuming 20 bowls of miso ramen as he told Teuchi and Ayame about becoming a ninja and learning an amazing jutsu. He was starting to think that it was true that Naruto was eating ramen both for himself and for the Kyuubi, as that was the only explanation for the Kami-like proportions of ramen that Naruto devoured. After walking with Naruto back to his apartment and parting ways, the Hokage called "Boar".

An Anbu with the mask of a boar appeared asking "yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to inform jounin sensei's Sarutobi, Yuhi, and Hatake of an emergency meeting tomorrow morning at 7 am. Also, when you inform Hatake, relay that you have been authorized to use deadly force to ensure that he arrives on time."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," replied the Anbu captain before leaving to execute the order.

* * *

 **The Meeting**

The Hokage was sitting behind his desk. Kurenai and Asuma had both arrived early and were waiting as Kakashi still had not arrived. At precisely 6:59 am, the door to the Hokage's office opened and Kakashi strolled in.

Seeing the eyes of the other two jounin and the Hokage on him he asked "I'm not late, am I?"

The Hokage just sighed before responding "No Kakashi, you're just on time. Take a seat so we can begin this meeting."

After Kakashi sat down, Asuma finally asked "what is this meeting about dad?"

"This meeting is about the teams that you will be leading," replied the Hokage.

"Has there been a change since we formalized the teams at the last meeting?" asked Kurenai.

"Yes. New information that I received yesterday indicates that team 7 would not be functional, as a result we need to reorganize the teams," the Hokage answered.

Upon hearing this answer, Kakashi perked up and got serious before asking "why would team 7 not be functional?"

"The team chemistry would not work. Yesterday evening Naruto told me that he only hoped he wouldn't be on a team with Sasuke or Sakura. When I asked him why, he revealed information that we were not aware of. First, his crush on Sakura had only lasted for about a week. After that he only continued to ask her out to get back at her by annoying her. Like Sakura, he considers Sasuke to be mean and has implied that he believes that neither of them would care if he died or not. Upon reviewing their interactions with Naruto, I can't find myself disagreeing with Naruto's logic."

"Maybe it would be a rough start," began Kakashi, "but I'm sure those three would learn to care about each other as teammates."

"This is not up for debate, Kakashi. I have already decided that Naruto will be moved to a different team. The question is to which team he will go, or if we need to completely reorganize the structure of all three teams," said the Hokage.

"But Hokage-sama," said Kakashi heatedly, "Naruto is my -"

"- SILENCE," yelled the Hokage, surprising both Kurenai and Asuma. "That is an SS secret Kakashi and if you speak another word on the matter you will be put to death."

The eyes of both Kurenai and Asuma widened at hearing how serious the conversation had turned and wondered what this SS secret could be.

Kakashi clamped his mouth shut as soon as he heard the yell. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Now, what ideas do any of you have on new team formations?" asked the Hokage. The silence that he received in response seemed to stretch endlessly as no one answered. "Any ideas at all?" he tried again.

"Well, I don't know if we can alter the Ino-Shika-Cho team," said Asuma. "You know how close those 3 clans are and what kind of problems you'd get in council meetings if you split up their children."

"A valid point," agreed the Hokage. "Kurenai, what do you think?"

"My team was designed to be a stealth and tracking team with Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's kikaichū, and Kiba's sense of smell. I don't think we would be able to function as such with Naruto's orange suit painting a target on him from a mile away and his loud behavior," replied Kurenai.

Thinking about Kurenai's response, the Hokage noticed at least some similarity between Naruto and Kiba as both are loud and boastful. "That is true," began the Hokage, "but Kiba is also quite loud and boastful, similar to Naruto. As far as the orange suit, Naruto can simply get a new outfit that doesn't, as you put it, paint a target on him. Something else to consider, Naruto is very proficient at stealth from all the pranks that he pulls despite wearing a neon orange suit. That stealth should also translate to missions."

Hearing the Hokage's response, she had to agree with what he said. The clothes that Naruto wears could be changed to not draw attention and much like Naruto, Kiba was also loud. The downside is that the team would lose Kiba's sense of smell. "I think that exchange could work, Hokage-sama. The team should still be able to function as a stealth and tracking team with minimal loss in capacity upon the removal of Kiba's sense of smell."

"Very good then. In that case Naruto will join team 8 while Kiba will join team 7," replied the Hokage. "Kurenai, you should also know that Naruto has learned kage bunshin and is quite proficient at the jutsu. I believe he made at least 200 when he graduated."

This information actually got Kurenai's jaw to drop at the implication of the amount of chakra Naruto had. If she had tried, she would likely hit chakra exhaustion at 4 or 5 kage bunshin.

"I do not know if Naruto realized this when he learned the jutsu, but you should inform him that the original will get all the memories that the clones received. This should actually add more versatility to your team to function as a stealth, tracking, and information gathering team, though you will need to work with Naruto to develop his henge and acting skills," said the Hokage.

In response, Kurenai could only nod her head, already thinking of what her team could be capable of if she also had Naruto train with kage bunshin. She knew that Hinata had a huge crush on the blonde that caused her to faint whenever Naruto tried to talk to her. Once she breaks out of that habit, having Naruto on the team should increase Hinata's self confidence and make her a stronger kunoichi as well.

"I don't suppose there's any way I could lead team 8?" voiced Kakashi, breaking Kurenai's thoughts. Before she could respond however, she heard the Hokage let out a sigh.

"Kakashi," said the Hokage, "the council is forcing me to assign you the team with Sasuke due to your Sharingan."

"I understand Hokage-sama," replied a dejected Kakashi as he wouldn't be able to train his sensei's son.

"Then, this meeting is over. You will be picking up your teams from the academy next week at noon," said the Hokage, dismissing the 3 jounin.

* * *

 **Omake**

"Kakashi Hatake," stated Boar, interrupting the reading of his _precious_ Icha Icha book.

The Cyclop's eye grew wide as he noticed that the enemy, Boar-san, was after his treasure. "What do you want? Are you after my _Precious_?" he asked, cradling the Icha Icha in his arms and close to his chest.

"No," deadpanned Boar at seeing Kakashi's reaction. "I'm here with a message from Hokage-sama about an emergency meeting tomorrow at 7 am."

Kakashi returned to reading his _Precious_.

"That you, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi must attend."

Kakashi didn't take his eye away from his _Precious_.

"And that I have been authorized-"

Kakashi began to tune out the background noise.

"-to use deadly force to get you to that meeting on time," finished Boar.

Kakashi then started to alternate his gaze from his _Precious_ to Boar, his one eye opened wide. After a minute, he finally replied "understood". With that Boar left the Cyclop's lair.

Meanwhile, the Cyclops was cooing "don't worry my _Precious_ , I would never leave you. You will be with me at all times. Yes, my _Precious_ …"

* * *

So yeah... team 8 Naruto!


	2. Meeting His Team

**Chapter 2 - Meeting His Team**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Naruto's week until the team assignments were announced could be summed up in two words: extremely boring. He got a minion in Konohamaru who acknowledged him and beat a special jonin with his new harem jutsu, but now he had another rival after the hat. Naruto also visited Iruka-sensei during this week. He was still covered in bandages, but at least he was out of the hospital. Unfortunately, he couldn't get Iruka-sensei to pay for his ramen this time.

Eventually, the week did pass and the day of team assignments had finally arrived. When Naruto walked into the classroom he started to look for an open seat. He was about to choose to sit at Sasuke-teme's table to annoy him with how he graduated, but remembering his talk with Jiji, he chose to pick a different table as he would now, hopefully, not have to be near Sasuke-teme again. Instead, Naruto decided to sit at a table near the back of the classroom where Hinata was sitting, one of the few people that weren't mean to him.

"Hey Hinata," said Naruto as he approached her table. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked.

Hinata, who wasn't looking towards the door to see Naruto come in, froze when she heard Naruto's voice. When she turned her head to the right and saw Naruto looking at her, her face turned bright red and she nearly fainted.

After 15 seconds of awkward silence as he looked at Hinata, Naruto decided to ask "is that a no then?"

"W-w-what?" stuttered Hinata, as her brain had completely shut down after seeing Naruto-kun and she didn't know what he was asking.

"I asked if it's alright if I sit at your table?" asked Naruto again, confused with why her face turned red and hoping she wasn't sick.

"Y-yes, y-you m-may," Hinata managed to respond

"Awesome, thanks Hinata" said Naruto as he sat down.

While this occurred, neither Naruto nor Hinata were aware that the rest of their classmates had become completely silent as they watched the interaction. Even Sasuke, who felt the academy was a waste of time, was staring in disbelief at what was happening. It was no secret to them that Hinata had a crush on Naruto which he was completely oblivious to. Most of the classmates wondered if Naruto had finally found out and what he was doing here when he had failed the graduation exam.

Shikamaru decided to voice one of those thoughts as he asked "what are you doing here, Naruto?"

"I graduated and became a ninja, see?" said Naruto with a wide smile while pointing to his headband. "I wouldn't have a hitai-ate if I wasn't a ninja!"

Shikamaru replied with "troublesome" before he went back to sleep as he thought about why and how Naruto could pass when he had failed the exam a week ago.

Hinata, whose face was still red, was glad that Naruto-kun had passed the exam.

Their other classmates decided to go back to what they were doing as it looked like Naruto was still just as oblivious as he was before. With the exception of Shikamaru and Shino, who was also curious, the rest of Naruto's classmates didn't care how he graduated. It was only moments later that the door to the classroom burst open and Sakura and Ino stumbled in.

"Ha, take that Ino-pig. I got here first," said Sakura. ' _Cha, we showed her. Now Sasuke-kun is ours,_ ' cheered inner Sakura.

"What do you mean you got here first? We came in at the same time Billboard Brow!" replied Ino.

"No, my foot clearly entered the classroom first" argued Sakura.

This then led up to a huge argument near Sasuke's table over who would get to sit next to him with every kunoichi except Hinata participating. Sasuke had actually started to wish that the annoying dobe was sitting next to him so he could use him as a shield against the most evil monsters in the world, _fan girls_. ' _Maybe when I get revenge on Itachi and kill him, I could then get revenge on fan girls,_ ' thought Sasuke. ' _No, damn. They're not missing nin. If I killed them I would go to jail_ ' he realized a moment later. ' _Then again, maybe jail would be better…_ '

Unknown to him as he was no longer paying attention to them, some of his killing intent began to leak out. This caused the fan girl squad to slowly inch away as they found other seats, for fear of displeasing Sasuke-kun who clearly didn't want them around at the moment.

Naruto just stared at the argument, wondering what was so great about Sasuke-teme that all the kunoichi wanted to be near him. He was silent as a rock and hardly spoke it all. Naruto tried to do that one day, but no one paid any attention to him (except a certain lavender-eyed Hyuuga who was conducting stealth training via _surveilance_ ). Well, all kunoichi except Hinata who he realized was still sitting near him.

"Hey Hinata, why aren't you there wanting to sit near Sasuke-teme?" asked Naruto.

Hinata, whose face only just started to return back to normal, instantly began glowing bright red again as she heard Naruto-kun talking to her. "I-I u-um" started Hinata before stopping, not knowing how to answer Naruto-kuns question.

"Don't you like Sasuke-teme like Sakura and the rest of the girls?" asked Naruto, still confused with how she acted and stuttered while talking.

"N-no, N-N-Naruto-kun. I-I don't l-like Sasuke" answered Hinata, barely managing to stay conscious.

"Really?" asked Naruto happily. "Me too! I don't like Sasuke-teme either. You're awesome Hinata," replied Naruto.

This nearly caused poor Hinata to faint, and she would have, if Iruka-sensei hadn't entered the classroom at that exact moment and used his big head jutsu to yell "SILENCE" and get the attention of the class.

"As you all know, today you will be receiving your teams and jonin senseis with whom you will train and do missions with. Now, please remain seated and _quiet_ while I read off the list of teams," said Iruka while stressing the word 'quiet' in the futile attempt to not get interrupted. He should have known better. "Team 1. . ."

As Iruka-sensei started reading off the teams, Naruto started to tune him out as he waited to hear his own name called.

"Team 7: Kiba Inuzuka, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your jo-"

"YES! In your face Ino-pig," screamed Sakura.

Ino's face was the definition of disappointment as she realized that she wouldn't be on a team with Sasuke-kun.

"QUIET," screamed Iruka, annoyed at the interruption. "Your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Team 8: Naruto Uzumaki,"

Naruto perked up at hearing his name called.

"Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame. Your jonin sensei is Kurenai Yuhi."

"Wow Hinata, looks like we're on the same team," said Naruto with a genuine smile on his face as neither of his teammates were ever mean to him.

Hinata, after hearing that Naruto-kun would be on her team, reached a new color of crimson red. She didn't think she could properly form words, so she decided to just nod her head and pray to Kami that this isn't a dream.

Naruto was about to ask Hinata if she was feeling okay when Iruka-sensei spoke.

"Naruto, be QUIET and let me finish reading of the teams. You can talk after I'm done," said Iruka in exasperation. "Now, team 9 is still in rotation so team 10: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi. Your jonin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. Those are all of the teams and yes, before any of you ask, those teams are final. Your jonin sensei will be coming to pick you up in the afternoon," finished Iruka.

The thoughts of Naruto and his classmates at the teams that were formed were mixed.

Ino was devastated that she got placed on a team with the lazy Shikamaru and fatty Choji instead of Sasuke-kun. ' _Even having Kiba would have been better,_ ' thought Ino. ' _And Billboard Brow actually got both!'_

Choji was hoping to get some barbecue for lunch before they had to meet with their jonin sensei.

Shikamaru was thinking that having Ino on the team would be troublesome, but he had deduced that he would be placed on the Ino-Shika-Cho team since he entered the academy.

Kiba's emotions varied greatly. He was pissed that he wasn't on a team with Hinata who he had a crush on, but the only one she paid attention to was the Naruto. Kiba was also shivering in fear as he remembered the threat that his mother gave him of what would happen if he finished as the dead-last in the academy.

 ***FLASHBACK***

 _"Kiba, you will pull your grades up because I swear if you finish as the dead-last I will take this rusty kunai" said Tsume as she pulled out said kunai, "and shave you bald. Akamaru," said Tsume, turning to Kiba's ninken, "you had better remind him because if he does finish as the dead-last, you will share his fate."_

 ***END FLASHBACK***

He had tried to fail at the academy in the beginning, hoping that Hinata would pay attention to him like she did Naruto, but it hadn't worked at all. And now, he was on a team with the rookie of the year and kunoichi of the year. And Kiba knew enough to know that the rookie of the year and kunoichi of the year were often paired up with the dead last as a way to balance the teams.

Akamaru was shivering along with Kiba. On the occasion that Kiba forgot to pay attention in class, Akamaru would remind him by biting him as he did not want to get shaved at all, let alone with a rusty kunai.

Sasuke hoped to get promoted to Chunin quickly so this team wouldn't slow him down.

Sakura was still talking with Inner Sakura on the best way to get Sasuke-kun to go out with her.

Shino was curious why his team was formed the way it was. Logic would dictate that a tracking or stealth team would be formed with Inuzuka for his sense of smell rather than Uzumaki.

Hinata was still in dreamland, but her thoughts of what she could do with her Naruto-kun won't be mentioned for fear of scarring the reader for life.

Naruto couldn't wait to start training and doing missions with his team. He also wondered how strong Kurenai-sensei was if she was a jonin.

As the others started to form up into their teams and leave the classroom for break, Naruto turned his attention back to Hinata who seemed to just be staring ahead. "Hey Hinata, should we go and meet Shino?" asked Naruto.

Hinata, however, was still day dreaming and wasn't aware of anything going on around her.

"Hinata?" asked Naruto, wondering why she didn't react at all. He started to wave his hand in front of her eyes to try and get her attention, but still nothing. He then started to lightly shake her to get her to wake up.

"W-w-what?" said Hinata, confused on why she was being shaken and extremely angry at whoever interrupted her wonderful dream. Then she realized it was Naruto-kun who was sitting next to her that was shaking her, and that it wasn't a dream and she was actually on a team with Naruto-kun!

"Are you okay now Hinata? You were spaced out for some reason," said Naruto as he stopped shaking her after she responded.

"G-gomen N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said, trying to keep her consciousness. "I-I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto, to which he received a shake of the head from Hinata to indicate yes. "Well, I was just asking if we should go and meet our other teammate Shino," said Naruto.

Shino, who had by this time already approached his teammates, finally indicated his presence "I'm already here Hyuuga-san, Uzumaki-san."

"Whoa, when did you manage to sneak up on us Shino?" asked Naruto.

"I approached the both of you shortly after the other teams started to get together and leave the classroom," replied Shino in his monotone voice.

"Alright, well what do you guys want to do while we wait to meet Kurenai-sensei?" asked Naruto. His only response was blank stares from both Hinata and Shino. "Well, how about I take you guys to the best restaurant in all of Konoha, Ichiraku's" said Naruto with excitement. Not waiting for a response this time around, he grabbed both Hinata's and Shino's hands and started to drag them to Ichiraku's, wanting to also introduce his new teammates to Old Man Teuchi and Ayame-neechan.

* * *

 **Omake**

Deep within the Hokage Tower, in a secret and darkened room that was lit by a faintly glowing red light, several jonin and the Hokage were engaged in pedophilic activities as they-"

"WE'RE ONLY CONDUCTING SURVEILLANCE FOR INFORMATION," yelled the Hokage.

"My apologies," said the Narrator. "As I was saying, several jonin and the Hokage were engaged in surveillance activities that would make a certain Snake Sannin jealous as they-"

"WE ARE NOT PEDOPHILES," screamed Kurenai, not liking the comparison to Orochimaru.

 **Rice Country**

"Achoo," sneezed the Snake Sannin.

"Are you sick, Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kabuto, concerned for his master.

"No, no. It's just that someone was engaged in pedophilic activities and I wasn't there to see it" replied Orochimaru.

"Okay. . ." said Kabuto, not sure how to reply to his master's statement.

 **Hokage Tower**

"My apologies Kurenai," said the Narrator, annoyed with yet another interruption. "Now, as I was trying to say, several jonin and the Hokage were engaged in spying on children in the academy, but were not being pedophiles while doing it."

Upon finishing his comment, the Narrator was immediately thrown out of the most secret room in the Hokage Tower by Anbu and the rest, as they say, is history.


	3. Jonins, Tests, and Shopping?

**Chapter 3 - Jonins, Tests, and Shopping?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Shino managed to free his hand soon after getting dragged out of the classroom by Naruto and decided to simply follow his other two teammates as he observed.

Naruto either didn't notice or didn't care in his excitement and continued to drag a helpless Hinata to his favorite ramen stand. Hinata was too shocked by the physical contact of her Naruto-kun holding her hand to do anything other than shuffle her feet so that she would not be dragged on the ground. Not that she would ever try to do anything that might make her Naruto-kun let go of her, Kami forbid the evil thought.

And so all the ninjas and civilians that the newly formed team passed as they headed towards Ichiraku's were witnesses of a most comedic or most demonic scene, depending on who you asked.

The ninja thought it was funny that the Hyuga heiress who had a crush on the village pariah was being dragged by him while he held her hand. Unknown to the newly graduated class, and the Hyuga clan as a whole due to the giant poles they kept tucked away in their behinds, betting pools were frequently made among the chunin, jonin, and anbu ninja as to what would happen with the newly graduating genin. The jonin sensei of the new teams were strictly prohibited from participating in the betting so that they would not influence the bets in their favor.

One such betting pool was centered around Shikamaru Nara and what his IQ score would be. Asuma Sarutobi as his jonin sensei was responsible for testing Shikamaru and finding out his IQ score to settle the bets. Another such betting pool was centered around Naruto and when he would finally realize how Hinata felt about him. Kurenai Yuhi as their jonin sensei was responsible for keeping track of the relationship status and informing the betting pool when it changed. Currently, the odds were 1 to 1,000 that Naruto would realize how Hinata felt about him before the next chunin exam. Conversely, the odds that Hiashi Hyuga would try to kill Naruto if he started dating Hinata were 100,000 to 1.

The civilians on the other hand thought that the demon finally revealed its true colors and started going on a rampage, having already killed the bloodied Hyuga heiress due to her face taking on a deep shade of red. As a result, they all stayed silent and well out of the team's way as they proceeded to Ichiraku's.

"Ayame-neechan, Old Man Teuchi," called out Naruto as he reached the ramen stand.

"Hello Naruto, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be assigned your team today?" asked Ayame.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here with my team" said Naruto with a grin on his face. "This is Hinata," said Naruto, finally letting go of her hand and gesturing towards the red and out of breath Hinata. "And this," said Naruto before stopping and looking to his other side, "is Shino."

"Well, this calls for a celebration," said Teuchi happily. "What would you all like to have for lunch? It's on the house for today."

"Really?" asked Naruto happily. "In that case I'll have 10 bowls of miso ramen."

"Alright, and what would the teammates of our favorite customer like to have?" Teuchi asked of Naruto's teammates.

"I-I'd l-like to h-have a b-bowl of v-vegetable ramen," said Hinata.

"I will also have a bowl of vegetable ramen," said Shino in his monotone voice.

While they ate, Kurenai Yuhi observed her team from a distance. She knew it would likely take her some time to fix Naruto's loud behavior to get him to a mission capable state. She would also have to work on improving Hinata's confidence and aggression. As much as she liked Hinata as an honorary daughter, she was far too kind to perform and act as a ninja of the Leaf. Shino was currently the most fundamentally sound genin on her team, but she would likely need to get him to open up more to his teammates to improve their performance as a unit. Having seen enough, she decided to head towards the academy to get ready to greet her new team when they returned.

After finishing their lunch, Naruto, Hinata, and Shino thanked Teuchi and Ayame for the free lunch before leaving to head back to the academy.

"So, do either of you know how strong Kurenai-sensei is?" asked Naruto.

"I do not know of Kurenai Yuhi, but as a jonin ranked ninja, she is more than capable of leading this team" responded Shino.

"I-I've met K-Kurenai-sensei b-before. She u-used to t-take me to t-the academy," said Hinata.

"Wow Hinata, so you know how strong our sensei is then?" asked Naruto.

"I h-haven't s-seen her f-fight, b-but I k-know she is a s-strong ku-kunoichi," replied Hinata.

"Oh, and why did she take you to the academy?" asked Naruto. "Are you related to her?"

"N-no. She t-took me to the a-academy be-because my f-father was too b-busy," said Hinata, which was partially true. She didn't want to tell Naruto-kun it was because her father thought of her as a failure and did not want to waste his time.

Naruto was confused by Hinata's answer. From what he had seen throughout the village, parents spent a lot of time with their children, something he never had. He decided against asking Hinata anything more as her face appeared sad after his question. "Well let's hurry so we can start doing missions," said Naruto with excitement to change the subject.

By the time they got back to the classroom, they were the second to last team to return. Only team 10 with Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji had not returned yet, whether it was because Shikamaru was still cloud watching or Choji was still eating barbecue was anyone's guess.

For some reason, Kiba started to give Naruto a death glare almost as soon as he entered the classroom. He tried to recall if he had pranked Kiba recently, but couldn't remember having done so in the past week since his graduation and Mizuki's betrayal.

Team 10 did return eventually with Ino screaming about being late and making a bad impression on Sasuke-kun. While she was screaming her head off, Shikamaru just kept his ears plugged with his fingers and Choji continued to munch on a new bag of chips.

Only moments after team 10 entered the classroom, the door opened again to reveal two figures. One was a shinobi with spiky black hair, wearing a dark green flak jacket with a dark blue shirt underneath and dark blue pants. The other was a kunoichi with long, untamed black hair, wearing what appeared to be white bandages in the shape of a sleeveless dress, with a red mesh underneath and one visible sleeve on her right arm.

"I'm Asuma Sarutobi," spoke the shinobi, "jonin sensei of team 10. Team 10, meet me at training ground #10 in 30 minutes," said Asuma before disappearing in a leaf shunshin.

"I'm Kurenai Yuhi," spoke the kunoichi immediately after Asuma had left, "jonin sensei of team 8. Team 8, meet me at training ground #8 in 30 minutes," said Kurenai before also disappearing in a leaf shunshin.

"Alright, let's go guys," spoke Naruto excitedly as both team 8 and team 10 moved out to meet their senseis, though not before they heard Sakura and Kiba screaming at Iruka and asking where their sensei was.

A certain white haired, one-eyed jonin that was walking towards the academy and came upon a black cat in his path suddenly sneezed. _'Nope, better go around than risk bad luck,'_ he thought as he turned and started walking away from the cat and the academy to go around the back. Little did he know that a certain old lady would be needing his help crossing the streets to get around and to the front of the academy.

 **Training Ground #8**

"Hi Kurenai-sensei," said Naruto loudly as he and his team approached. "Are we gonna start training or do some missions?" asked Naruto excitedly.

"Neither," replied Kurenai, smirking evilly as she remembered her own post-graduation test. "You will all be taking a test to determine if you have what it takes to be a ninja of the Leaf."

"What!?" screamed Naruto. "But we already passed the test at the academy and became ninja."

"The academy test is only done to determine if you are capable of testing to become a genin. The real test that determines if you can become a ninja of the Leaf is given out by your jonin sensei, in this case, me. Unlike the academy exam, the exam given to you by your jonin sensei is much harder and has approximately a 60% to 80% failure rate."

"B-But that m-means-" started Hinata, before getting interrupted by Kurenai.

"It means that out of your class, only about three teams will pass and become ninja of the Leaf. The rest will fail and either go back to the academy or give up on becoming a ninja," said Kurenai as she paused to let the message sink in. "It also means that the odds of you being one of the teams that passes is against you."

"It doesn't matter what the failure rate is, we will definitely pass your stupid test and become ninja," replied Naruto confidently.

"Really?" asked an amused Kurenai. "Do you know that ninja are supposed to be silent when in the field? And that, had the test already started, you would already have failed?"

"WHAT?" screamed Naruto in disbelief. "How would I have failed?" he asked.

"Because, had this been an actual mission, any enemy ninja within a half mile radius would know our location from your loud behavior," said Kurenai, hoping Naruto would learn from this explanation. "Being a ninja isn't just about fighting or throwing around jutsu, being silent while traveling is just as important. If an enemy ninja heard you, they could easily set up a trap for us to walk into, and that could cost you your or your teammates lives. Do you understand now?" asked Kurenai.

"Hai, Kurenai-sensei" spoke Naruto quietly.

Hinata wasn't happy hearing how Kurenai-sensei was threatening to fail Naruto-kun, but she couldn't find any fault in her reasoning and explanation. Shino's respect for Kurenai Yuhi as a sensei grew as he witnessed how she was teaching Naruto and he agreed with her logic.

"I'm not your sensei yet, Naruto. Now listen up because I'm only going to explain your test once" said Kurenai, immediately grabbing their attention. "This team has been designed as a mixture of stealth, tracking, infiltration, and assassination. Your test will be to find and capture me before sunset, in three hours. You may use any techniques at your disposal to do so. If you all fail, or if some of you do not perform to my standards, you will be sent back to the academy unless you decide to quit this path of becoming a ninja. Now, do you all understand your goal?" asked Kurenai.

"Hai," answered Naruto, Hinata, and Shino.

"Then you may begin," said Kurenai who then disappeared in a poof of smoke, making Naruto realize that it was a shadow clone.

"Um, do you guys have any idea of where she might be?" asked Naruto, not so sure anymore that he would be able to pass this test.

"It would be prudent for us to first list of our abilities of what we can do so that we can make a plan on how to find and capture Yuhi-san," spoke Shino.

"Huh?" asked Naruto, confused about what Shino meant.

"H-He means t-that we s-should all know w-what the r-rest can do to c-come up w-with a g-good plan to f-find and c-capture Kurenai-sensei," translated Hinata.

"Oh, that's a great idea," replied Naruto with a smile. "I know the substitution, henge, and shadow clone jutsu," said Naruto as he listed off the only three techniques that he knew.

Shino's eyebrows rose high enough at this information that Naruto and Hinata could actually see his eyes that were normally hidden by dark glasses. Shino knew of the shadow clone jutsu and that it was a kinjutsu due to its massive chakra consumption. "And, how many shadow clones can you make?" asked Shino.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure," replied Naruto as he thought back to the night that he fought Mizuki. "I think I made close to a hundred the last time I used it, but I could probably make more if I tried."

"That should be impossible," replied Shino, thinking that Naruto may be exaggerating.

"Well I am the number one unpredictable ninja. Just watch, I'll show you," said Naruto as he went through the ram, serpent, and tiger seals, then yelled out " **shadow clone jutsu** " while channeling all the chakra he could. Multiple poofs of smoke could be heard and when the smoke cleared, there were too many orange clad Naruto clones for Shino or Hinata to even count. "See?" asked Naruto. "I'm not really sure how many I made, but I bet I made more than 100," finished Naruto as he laughed at Shino's stunned face. He then noticed that Hinata had a nosebleed. "Hey Hinata, are you okay?" asked a concerned Naruto.

Hinata's mind, after seeing so many Naruto-kuns in one place surrounding her, went into overdrive and finally shut down causing her to faint shortly after her nosebleed.

Naruto managed to catch Hinata before she fell face first into the ground. "Hey, what's wrong with Hinata? Is she okay?" asked a worried Naruto.

"You should take her to the hospital, boss" said clone #1.

"What are you saying? The hospital is _evil_ ," said clone #2.

"Yeah!" agreed several clones.

Having heard enough of Naruto's clones arguing on what to do, Shino decided to speak. "Hyuga-san will be just fine after a few minutes of rest Uzumaki-san" said Shino.

"Are you sure? I mean she was even bleeding, she must be injured" said Naruto.

"Hyuga-san was just surprised by the number of clones that you made Uzumaki-san," lied Shino, not wanting to reveal Hinata's secret to him. "She will recover soon. I have also figured out how we can find Yuhi-san."

"Really? That's great, so how are we going to find her?" asked Naruto.

"As part of the Aburame clan, I use kikaichū to fight with. My kikaichū have already memorized the scent of Yuhi-san when she came to pick us up from the academy. My plan is to have each of your clones take a kikaichū with them and disperse throughout Konoha. When one of them recognizes the scent of Yuhi-san, it will release pheromones that will alert the rest of my hive as to the location of Yuhi-san."

"Woah, that is really awesome. We'll definitely pass this test now!" said Naruto enthusiastically.

It took several minutes for Naruto to organize his many clones so that they each had a kikaichū with them. One of the clones had commented about wanting to squash the icky bug, after which a sudden release of killing intent from Shino completely dispelled the notion among all of Naruto's clones. Shino also told the clones to focus on the various training grounds all throughout Konoha as he reasoned that attempting to capture, and thus fight, Yuhi-san would not occur in the vicinity of regular villagers. After the clones dispersed from the area, Naruto and Shino waited for Hinata to wake up.

Fortunately, it didn't take too long for Hinata's brain to reboot. Ten minutes after Naruto's clones set out, Hinata came back to the realm of the living.

 _'What happened?'_ thought Hinata as she slowly started to open her eyes, feeling slightly dizzy. She then remembered that she saw Naruto create over a hundred clones and passed out from the sight.

"Hey Hinata, are you feeling okay?" asked Naruto once he noticed that she started to sit up.

"H-hai," replied Hinata with a blush returning to her face, feeling embarrassed about passing out.

"What happened? Are you sick? Do you need to go to a medic?" asked Naruto in rapid succession.

"G-gomen," apologized Hinata. "I w-was just su-surprised" answered Hinata with her head down.

Naruto then proceeded, with the help and input of Shino, to explain how they were going to find Kurenai-sensei to Hinata. She was amazed at how strong both of her teammates were, but also felt even worse about not being able to contribute or help her team.

Unlike Naruto or Hinata, Shino could see underneath the underneath to the test that Yuhi-san gave them. There was no way for fresh genins to actually capture a jonin, so this was likely a test to see if they could use their individual skills as a team to try to accomplish their goals. After Naruto's explanation, Shino went on to ask his team members for ideas on how to capture Yuhi-san and slowly, they started to formulate a plan.

 **Elsewhere in Konoha**

A certain red-eyed jonin was hiding away behind a genjutsu while questioning herself if she should have changed the test she had planned. The test was originally meant for the team of Kiba, Shino, and Hinata as she expected Kiba to be crucial in their ability to locate her whereabouts and Hinata's ability to see through her genjutsu with her Byakugan.

She decided to keep the test the same for the time being and, if they could not find her within two hours, move on to give a 'last chance' challenge for them to pass.

So far, one hour had already passed. She then noticed out of the corner of her eye that Naruto was searching training ground 31 and was now approaching her in her disguise.

"Excuse me miss," said the Naruto clone. "Have you seen Kurenai Yuhi around here?" he asked the blonde woman sitting on the bench.

"I'm sorry to say I don't know who that is ninja-san," replied Kurenai.

On the back of the Naruto clone, a kikaichū bug started to release pheromones that alerted Shino's hive that Yuhi-san was found, even as the clone started to move elsewhere.

 **With Team 8**

"Yuhi-san has been located," announced Shino. "She is near training ground 13."

"Alright, let's go capture Kurenai-sensei so we can start taking missions!" shouted Naruto.

 _'I hope I don't mess up my part and cause Naruto-kun to fail,'_ thought Hinata.

It took them 15 minutes to reach training ground #13. "Where is sensei?" asked Naruto, only being able to spot a blonde woman who was sitting on a bench and reading a book.

"From what I know of Yuhi-san's reputation, she is a master of genjutsu and may be using one to hide in plain sight" stated Shino. "Hyuga-san, could you use your Byakugan to check the area?"

"Yes," answered Hinata before calling " **Byakugan** " to activate her dojutsu. _'It looks like Kurenai-sensei is disguising herself as the blonde woman on the bench'_ though Hinata. "I t-think that the b-blonde woman s-sitting on the b-bench over t-there," said Hinata while pointing towards the woman, "is Ku-Kurenai-sensei using an a-advanced henge to d-disguise herself."

"Wow, you're amazing Hinata," said an impressed Naruto, not knowing how easy spotting a genjutsu is for a dojutsu user.

While Hinata began to once again grow red from receiving a compliment from Naruto, she also gained confidence from him.

"So, we go with plan A?" asked Naruto of his teammates.

"Affirmative," answered Shino.

"Y-yes," said Hinata.

With that, they set out to try and capture their target.

 **Kurenai**

Kurenai sighed as she turned the page in the book she was reading, _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_. If someone had asked her a week ago if she would ever read a book written by Jiraya of the Senin, she would have vehemently said no. However, the Hokage _strongly_ advised her to read this book as it would be relative to her new team. She was confused as to what the Hokage had meant, but decided to read the book.

To say that she was utterly baffled by the fact that Jiraya had actually written an incredible book compared to the porn that he writes would be an understatement. She of course saw the connection early on, as the main character's name, Naruto, was the same as that of the genin on her team. But the Hokage would not suggest that she read the book for such an insignificant reason, so she would have to continue to look underneath to find out what the Hokage wanted her to learn.

Nearly 2 hours had passed already, and her team still hadn't located her. Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised since Kiba Inuzuka was no longer on her team. As she was about to turn to the next page of the book, she sensed movement from behind. She smiled slightly, realizing that her new genin team managed to find her. Whether by skill or luck, she would find out later. She turned around to face them and see how they were going to try to capture her.

"Excuse me miss, could you help us find someone?" asked Naruto, while approaching her with Shino and Hinata at his side.

Kurenai, while still under the genjutsu, frowned at the team's straightforward attempt to get close to her, particularly when Naruto, or most likely a shadow clone, had come to her earlier.

"You know Naruto, trying to get close to me by pretending to be oblivious would have worked better had not your shadow clone came by earlier. The fact that you're here with both Shino and Hinata means that you've already figured out who I am," said Kurenai while dropping the henge.

"Really? Oh, oops" said Naruto while scratching the back of his head, "I didn't know my clone talked to you."

Kurenai made a mental note to explain to Naruto about the memory transfer aspect of shadow clones as she shook her head in slight disappointment. She noticed that both Shino and Hinata stayed silent and emotionless by Naruto's sides. While this wasn't surprising based on what she knew of Shino, it was surprising based on her knowledge and previous interaction with Hinata. "So how are you planning to capture me?" asked Kurenai.

"Well, we thought we could get close at first and have Shino drain your chakra while we captured you in a net, but it looks like now we'll have to… KICK YOUR ASS AND CAPTURE YOU KURENAI-SENSEI!" yelled Naruto as he then proceeded to rush forward and attack.

Kurenai now knew she would be in for a challenge trying to teach Naruto subtlety, or even the art of staying silent. It looks like very many 'capture Tora' missions would be in her future until Naruto learns that lesson. As Naruto threw a punch at her midsection, extending his body and leaving multiple openings, Kurenai side stepped, grabbed Naruto by the arm, and spun in a circle before letting go so that he was launched away.

She noticed that Shino's kikaichū bugs were going after her, but they were too far away and too slow to reach her. Kurenai moved to her right side to avoid the bugs when she was attacked by Hinata. She froze in place for a second when she saw Hinata, the same Hinata that she thought of as a younger daughter and that wouldn't lift a hand to hurt a fly, launch a punch towards her face.

Not wanting to hit Hinata and being too late to dodge, she quickly used a kawarimi to switch with a log, reappearing by the nearby tree.

By this time, Naruto recovered from getting thrown to ground and together with Shino and Hinata, they started to run towards Kurenai to launch their second attack. Kurenai was prepared to stop them as they approached when she felt herself getting hit twice in the back and once in her left shoulder. She quickly dashed to her right side to get away and, upon looking at who had attacked her, she saw a second Hinata. _'I can't believe I fell for a henged clone'_ thought Kurenai, as she realized that the first Hinata who attacked her was likely a Naruto shadow clone. _'I need to also ask Naruto how he did that henge'_ added Kurenai mentally. As the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha, a henge is easy for her to identify, yet she could not do so with Naruto's.

"That was an impressive plan," said Kurenai to her team, "but it will take more than that to capture me."

In response, all she got was a grin from Naruto that instantly made her tense as she figured that the plan her genin had created was far from over. As she prepared to cast the hell viewing genjutsu, she realized that she felt lower on chakra than she should have been, even with the juken hits that she took from Hinata. It was then that she realized that the kikaichū bugs that the Aburame clan used were on her back, yet she was sure that Shino never managed to get close enough to place them there. _'The Shino that was with Naruto must have been a bug clone, which meant that the real Shino was near the tree with Hinata'_ thought Kurenai. Using another kawarimi, Kurenai dislodged the kikaichū that were draining her of chakra. Apparently she needed to really take her team seriously or these fresh genin would actually manage to capture her and if they did, well she probably would never live down the shame amongst the other jonin.

"Alright, my turn" said Kurenai. Deciding to try and take out Hinata first because of her byakugan, she used the hell viewing technique. " **Magen: narakumi no jutsu** " said Kurenai, targeting the real Hinata that attacked her back and making her see visions of Naruto asking her out on a date. Switching to Naruto, she decided to capture him. " **Magen: jubaku satsu** " called out Kurenai.

Although Hinata would normally not be affected by a genjutsu thanks to her byakugan, the visual image of seeing her Naruto-kun calling her Hinata-chan and asking her out on a date was too much for her to handle. Although for Hinata, it was more of a heaven viewing genjutsu.

Naruto on the other hand had no experience with dispelling a genjutsu, so he found himself bound by a tree and unable to do anything to get free.

With both Hinata and Naruto incapacitated, Kurenai launched two quick kunai at Naruto's henge'd Hinata clone and Shino's bug clone. "Now that only leaves you Shino," said Kurenai towards where Shino was still hidden in the tree. "What will you do now when your teammates are incapacitated?"

 _'Uzumaki-san's plan worked better than expected,'_ thought Shino, _'but the difference between three genin and a jonin is still too much to overcome.'_ Thinking over the engagement that had just happened, he decided that he and his teammates showed enough ability for a track and capture test to be accepted as a team by Yuhi-san.

Shino jumped down toward his teammates. He saw that Yuhi-san was prepared for him to attack her. Instead of doing so, he sent several kikaichū toward his two teammates. Disrupting the chakra flow will dispel a genjutsu and draining even a tiny portion of chakra with his kikaichū would accomplish just that.

Kurenai was curious what Shino would do, but based on the information she knew of Shino, she wasn't surprised to see him send his kikaichū toward his teammates to disrupt their chakra and free them of the genjutsu. Kurenai gave a slight smile at the sight, _'this will definitely become an amazing team and having Naruto, despite his poor academic performance, would likely become an improvement over Kiba'_ thought Kurenai.

For Hinata and Naruto, their entrapment in the genjutsu came to a sudden end. Hinata was once again sporting red cheeks from what she saw in the genjutsu, while Naruto had a look of confusion.

"What happened to that huge tree?" asked Naruto.

"You and Hyuga-san were both trapped in a genjutsu. I released you by using my kikaichū to disrupt your chakra flow," answered Shino.

"Congratulations," said Kurenai, gaining the attention of all three genin. "You guys passed," finished Kurenai with a smile. She enjoyed seeing the shocked faces of both Hinata and Naruto, but had to wonder what it would take for Shino to display emotions.

Hinata, after her brief shock was ecstatic that they passed and that she would be on a team with Naruto.

"But I thought we were supposed to capture you to pass the test sensei, was everything that we did pointless if you were going to pass us anyway?" asked Naruto.

"The real test was to see if you three could work together as a team and accomplish the goal of the mission. You managed to find me and developed a good plan to attempt to capture me. I never expected you three to succeed in the capture," said Kurenai, but she could still see the confusion on Naruto's face.

"Listen up Naruto," said Kurenai, drawing his attention. "The jonin rank isn't given out for free, it takes leadership, skill, and strength to earn. You cannot expect to beat a jonin when you just passed the academy and became genin, and a big part of the reason that a jonin is assigned to lead new genin teams, besides teaching, is to be there to protect you on missions that go wrong or are given false information."

"Well I'll definitely get there," said Naruto with enthusiasm. "I will be the Hokage one day, believe it!"

"Then I will be the sensei that taught the Hokage," said Kurenai with a smile. "Now, before I let you all have the rest of the day celebrate, there are a few things I need to discuss. Naruto, you will have to get a new outfit for missions," said Kurenai.

"What?" asked Naruto, appalled at the idea. "Why do I have to do that? I love the color orange!"

"Do you remember what I said earlier about the purpose of this team?" asked Kurenai, getting a nod from Naruto. "This team was designed to be a tracking team while also having the ability to capture enemies, gather information, or even perform assassinations" said Kurenai, pausing as she saw Hinata and Naruto get shivers at the idea of doing assassinations. "Because of this, you need to have an outfit that doesn't attract the attention of everyone nearby and the neon orange color of your outfit does just that" finished Kurenai.

"But I'm good at being stealthy," argued Naruto, "I pull off pranks without anyone catching me all the time. I even painted the Hokage monument and no one caught me while I was doing it."

"Are you willing to risk the lives of Hinata and Shino because you wore orange?" asked Kurenai. Naruto's face became serious when he heard her question.

"No."

"Good. After we end this meeting, I will go with you to help you choose a good outfit for missions." Kurenai could still see that Naruto wasn't happy with the idea, but at least he wasn't trying to argue anymore. "The next thing I want to discuss is your henge, Naruto."

"Uh, what about it?" asked a confused Naruto.

"My specialty is in genjutsu and something as simple as a henge is easy for me to recognized. When you first engaged me in a fight with a clone henged as Hinata, I could not tell that it was a henge and I would like to know how you accomplished that," answered Kurenai.

"I don't know. I just told my clone to henge into Hinata" answered Naruto, still not sure what the big deal was.

"Alright Naruto, could you demonstrate your henge for me right now," said Kurenai, hoping to discover if he was doing something different.

"Ok sensei," said Naruto before preparing to henge. He decided to henge into Iruka-sensei this time as he yelled " **henge no jutsu**. Is this good enough sensei?" asked Naruto while henged as Iruka.

Kurenai watched as Naruto performed the technique, and everything seemed normal. Despite that, she still could not detect that Naruto was using a henge. _'This would be a really good ability to know for information gathering missions'_ thought Kurenai as she saw how useful a henge a that could not the be detected by sensors would be. _'This also likely explains how Naruto was so successful in his pranks, as well as his ability to escape Anbu.'_

Moving closer to Naruto, she reached out with her hand to head of the Iruka henge to see what would happen when it was disrupted, but she never expected to hit a solid surface.

"Why are you touching my head sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto…" said Kurenai, pausing slightly as she tried to come to grips with what she was realizing. "A henge is just a genjutsu and you are supposed to remain the same physically. It looks like your henge is an actual transformation."

Hinata and Shino were both surprised by this information, they didn't know it was possible to change their mass and size using a henge.

"Isn't the whole point of the henge to transform into something?" asked Naruto, still confused about what the big deal was.

"Hinata, could you come up here and use the henge jutsu to transform into someone taller?" asked Kurenai, deciding the best way to explain things to Naruto would be through a demonstration. "And Naruto, you can drop your… henge" finished Kurenai, not sure what to really call Naruto's jutsu.

Hinata felt herself become embarrassed again having Naruto look at her, but decided to quickly perform the henge and try not to faint. She chose to henge into Iruka-sensei as well.

"Now Naruto, try to touch the forehead of Iruka" said Kurenai.

Naruto just shrugged and decided to do as asked. And sure enough, when he was about to touch the forehead of the henged Iruka in front of him, his hand continued straight through as if there was nothing there and the henge immediately dropped.

"This is what I meant Naruto, a henge is just an illusion. You should still maintain your own body shape and size, but your henge somehow changes your physical body structure as well" explained Kurenai.

Naruto was suddenly dreading what this would mean for him. He already couldn't do a regular bunshin, would the fact that he didn't know henge and was still allowed to graduate mean that he would now be sent back? "Um, Kurenai-sensei…" said Naruto who didn't want to finish voicing his thoughts.

"Yes Naruto?" asked Kurenai.

"D-does this mean that I have to go back to the academy since I don't know how to do a proper henge?" asked Naruto, the fear apparent on his face.

Kurenai just smiled. "No Naruto, you and your teammates already passed my exam so you're now a team." This was instantly followed by a big sigh from both Naruto and Hinata. "Also, your version of the henge is significantly stronger as there is no way to sense that it is a henge, but I would like to know how you are able to do this."

"But I just do the hand seals for the henge and channel chakra" said Naruto.

Kurenai had noticed that Naruto performed the seals for henge perfectly. So if it wasn't anything to do with the seals, perhaps it was with his chakra. "Hinata, could you activate your Byakugan and watch as Naruto does his henge? I want you to tell me how much chakra Naruto is channeling when he does the henge."

"H-hai, Kurenai-sensei" said Hinata, proceeding to activate her dojutsu.

"Naruto, if you would perform the henge again please," said Kurenai.

"Sure, **henge** " said Naruto, this time deciding to change into Hokage-jiji.

Hinata gasped as she the amount of chakra that Naruto used for the henge. It was massive.

"Hinata, how much would you say that was?" asked Kurenai.

"I-it was a lot o-of chakra. I don't h-have anything t-to compare the a-amount to," said Hinata, still stunned.

"Naruto, can you make one shadow clone? Hinata, try to gauge the amount Naruto used for his henge to the amount he uses for his clone" said Kurenai. Hinata only nodded in response, her eyes still on Naruto.

" **Shadow clone jutsu** " said Naruto, who made one clone.

Hinata was once again amazed at how much chakra it took to make one shadow clone. She then paled at what it meant when Naruto had created over a hundred clones. Naruto must have kage level chakra reserves as a genin. Her thoughts were interrupted by Kurenai-sensei.

"Hinata, can you estimate the amount of chakra Naruto used for henge in comparison to the clone?" asked Kurenai.

"N-Naruto-kun used a-about three t-times the amount of c-chakra for the h-henge that he used f-for the clone," answered Hinata. Her answer had stunned Kurenai and even made Shino's eyes visible as his eyebrows jumped up.

"Is that bad?" asked Naruto, after seeing the looks that his teammates and sensei were giving him.

"To put it in perspective Naruto, your henge uses more chakra than what the majority of chunin ranked ninja have available to them" said Kurenai. _'On the other hand, it makes sense that he isn't able to do a regular henge just as he wasn't able to do a regular bunshin. He will have an easier time learning jutsu requiring high amounts of chakra, but most such jutsu are elemental and require elemental manipulation training,'_ thought Kurenai.

"So to use the regular henge, I just need to use less chakra?" asked Naruto.

"That is correct. However, you likely have too much chakra to do so" said Kurenai.

"What? How can you have too much chakra?" asked Naruto.

"Think of chakra like water in a container. If the container is small, it holds a small amount of water and it is easier to move a small amount of water out of the container. You have a massive amount of chakra. When you try to move water out of your container, it's impossible to move just a small amount of it, you end up moving a lot more. Some techniques, like the regular bunshin and the henge, only work when small amounts of chakra are given to the technique" explained Kurenai.

"So what should I do about this?" asked Naruto.

"You can continue to use the henge as you have been using it. We should also stop by the Hokage to register your version of the henge which is an actual transformation and probably an A rank kinjutsu technique."

"Really, I created an A rank jutsu?"

"Yes, you did" answered Kurenai. _'And most likely identified a serious hole in how the village is defended that will need to be dealt with in case the other villages know of this.'_

"Now before I conclude this meeting, tell me Naruto, do you know why shadow clones are special?" asked Kurenai.

Naruto thought about everything he knew about shadow clones before answering "because they're solid and can do jutsu."

"That is only part of it. Most do not use the shadow clone jutsu for fighting because the clones are easily dispelled with one hit and require a lot of chakra to make. The real purpose of the jutsu was for infiltration and information gathering. When a shadow clone is dispelled, all the information it gained is transferred to the original," explained Kurenai.

"Really?" asked Naruto.

Kurenai just sighed. Naruto was definitely the type of student that learned by doing. "Naruto clone," said Kurenai pointing to the clone that Naruto made earlier, "follow me. Everyone else, stay here." She took the clone out of hearing range and out of sight of her team behind a large tree in the training ground. "I'm going to dispel you by kicking you" said Kurenai to the clone, and proceeded to do so before the clone could say anything.

Kurenai then returned to her students. "So Naruto, do you know what happened to your clone?"

"Yeah, you kicked me in the stomach!" yelled Naruto angrily.

"And how did I kick you in the stomach if you were here and I never hit you?" asked Kurenai.

"That… was what happened to the clone? And I got the memory from it?" asked Naruto, finally realizing what Kurenai-sensei meant by memory transfer.

"Yes. The shadow clone jutsu is mostly used to gather information safely and it can then dispel to transfer what it learned. However, you are able to create a lot of clones without suffering chakra exhaustion so you can use them for battle or even training."

"Training?" asked Naruto.

"Whatever training your clones do with jutsus and chakra control will get transferred to you. So if you make 20 clones and have them train for one hour before dispelling, you will have done the equivalent of 20 hours of training," explained Kurenai.

"That's awesome!" yelled Naruto, already planning to do just that later.

Hinata was happy for Naruto and how strong he had become.

Shino remained quite while trying to figure out how Naruto had excess to so much chakra, but he was unable to come up with a logical reason.

"However," said Kurenai, "the memory transfer can put a lot of strain on the brain. The more clones you make and dispel, the more information gets transferred. If you make too many clones and dispel them at the same time, you may even permanently damage your brain and possibly even die" warned Kurenai.

This immediately washed away the happy look on Naruto while Hinata had a look of fear at the possibility of Naruto dying.

"So, I want you to promise me Naruto that you will not make more than 10 clones for training, and you limit the training to one hour with clones before dispelling them so that you do not hurt yourself" said Kurenai.

"I promise, Kurenai-sensei" replied Naruto quickly.

"Good. The one thing you cannot train using shadow clones is your physical fitness. Shadow clones only transfer memories and knowledge, so if you want to get stronger or faster, you will still need to exercise on your own."

Naruto nodded in response.

"That's all I had to discuss for today. We will meet tomorrow at training ground 8 at seven in the morning. Naruto, we will be going shopping now and…" paused Kurenai, "Hinata, you can come along as well. I could use some input on what will look good on Naruto" said Kurenai with a smile as Hinata's face instantly turned red.

 _'Shopping, with Naruto-kun…'_ thought Hinata.


End file.
